Ted Cruz Showboating Gives Lame Duck Dems a Christmas Gift

That unctuous, creepy, smarmy toad Ted Cruz shot himself and his party in their collective feet. Captain Ego kept the Senate in session for an ultimately pointless "point," and allowed the lame duck Democrats time enough to pass a bunch of appointments that would have gone unfilled! Good job, senator dumbass!

Rachel Maddow uses an excellent football story to take us to the glory that is Cruz's epic fumble. You still digging this guy, tea baggers?
 

Keith Olbermann: Bush Presidency, 8 Years in 8 Minutes

Today offered Keith Olbermann one last chance to get his ya-yas out over the eight years of the Bush Presidency. And he took full advantage. With the "Bush Legacy Project" trying to put a rosy glow on everything, it is important to see the flip-side. And whatever you think of Olbermann, the low-lights of the Bush Era are important to remember. Take a look.

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Dick Cheney Nearly Falls Asleep During Bush's Speech

Yes, listening to The Decider talk for any length of time is tedious. But even I managed to stay alert and awake during the interminable 13-minute speech. Vice President Dick Cheney was--shall we say--not in rapt attention.

George W. Bush Doesn't Give a Darn What You Think

Surprising absolutely no one, (still, for now) President George W. Bush doesn't give a darn what you think about him. Bush has long maintained that he doesn't follow polls--a questionable claim given Karl Rove's slavish attention to them--so at least he's being consistent. But what does it say when a President and his administration don't give a flying. . .darn. . .what the public thinks of them?

Rachel Maddow's Lame Duck Watch Special Report

George W. Bush's doozy of a "exit interview,"--his final press conference--inspired Rachel Maddow to devote several segments of her regular Lame Duck Watch to it. And her deconstruction of it is better than I can do, so. . .

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Keith Olbermann Deconstructs Bush's Last Press Conference

As discussed below, Bush gave his last "exit interview" press conference today. And this analysis from Countdown with Keith Olbermann is an excellent place to catch the highlights (lowlights?), if you cannot bear to watch the whole thing. Plus, Keith gets in some excellent points, and hopefully helps to derail the "Bush Legacy Project."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

More Rachel Maddow, on the Cheney Urban Legend

While I'm on the subject of Rachel Maddow, here she is deconstructing Dick Cheney's claim that his expansion of Vice-Presidential powers (and much more). A little Sarah Palin dismantling too, which is a bonus.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Pardon Me! Who's Looking for Favors from Bush?

Photo of Randy "Duke (Duchess?)" Cunningham from source, Washington Post

George W. Bush has 56ish days left as the very lame duck President. As such, everybody expects that he's got a briefcase full of pardons ready to go. Maybe several. But who is actively seeking them?

[Excerpt]

As Bush's Term Ends, Some Big Names Seek Pardons

With a backlog of applications piled up at the Justice Department, high-profile criminals and their well-connected lawyers increasingly are appealing directly to President Bush for special consideration on pardons and clemency, according to people involved in the process. . .

Read more at: Washington Post

George W. Bush, Lame Duck or Just Lame?

Poor Bushie. He's the least popular dude at the G20. Nobody wants to shake his hand. Of course, he doesn't seem like he wants to shake either. Not even a Obama or Howie Mandel-style fist-bump? He looks like he wants this over with as badly as we do. Poor Bushie. . .



Thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet for the link.

Department of Justice Scandal Overshadowed by Economy

Image from source, TruthOut

George W. Bush may be a lame duck, but he's also a lucky duck. Of the many scandals and outrages of his administration, most are either swept under the carpet, ignored, or simply missed because of other news stories. Here's another one.

[Excerpt]

Justice Department Scandal Almost Buried by Financial Crisis

At any other time, what happened in the U.S. Justice Department last week would have been big news. At any other time, when internal reports by Justice Department call for more investigation into a case of unethical, if not criminal, conduct on the part of lawmakers and the White House, the administration would have a lot of explaining to do. . .

Read more at: TruthOut

Thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet for the link.

George Bush Sings (Redux)

The other day, I posted an item on George W. Bush singing, in something of an early farewell performance. Well, for those of you wondering how it sounded, here are some hidden camera videos. It's probably just as well we can't actually see the performance. There's only so much embarrassment we can handle.



And here's what he had to say afterward.

Bush's Lame Duck Speech Not Impressing Congress

Photo from source, AOL News

Many Democrats, such as myself, have been profoundly disappointed by the performance of the press during the Bush Administration. They've often acted as glorified stenographers. And at times when they do get back into fighting shape, they tend to pull their punches. Where is the press of the Clinton Administration, where the tiniest whiff of scandal brought 'em out like a pack of ravenous dogs?

We may never know, but this story is a little better. . .

[Excerpt]

Lame Duck Bush Faces Skeptical Congress

Democratic Congress is poised to heed President Bush's call to help save the economy, but may not give him much else after a State of the Union speech that recycled many of the administration's past initiatives. . .

Read more at: AOL News

State of the Union Zzzzzzzzzzz

Image found at Poldraw

I gave it a valient effort, and nearly made it, too. But sometime around 6:45, I was dead asleep. While not nearly as wince-inducing as most of George W. Bush's speaches, it was nonetheless more of the same from him. I had a few eye-rolls, and a few moments where I wanted the ovations to just stop, so that he could wrap it up.

The left-right divide, and the tendency of only half the body to rise or sit on their hands is a little tedious. I understand why they do it. I mean if Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton were to clap wildly for something George W. Bush said, they'd be doomed on Super-Duper Tuesday, right? But I have to say, my sympathies were really with the Repbulican half on Congress tonight. How many of them were just playing along? Rising with their, clapping away for The Decider, and just wanting to sit down and get it over with?

Here are a few early reactions to the final Bush SOTU:

[Excerpt]

State of the Union Reactions

"President Bush today said that earmarks have tripled in number over the last decade, but he forgot to tell the public that he signed those earmarks into law. President Bush also neglected to mention that the tripling in earmarks occurred under a Republican Congress." — Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. . .

Read more at: Associated Press

Countdown to Change: Bush Has One Year to Go

Photo from source, Fire Dog Lake

We're not to the end of the road yet, but today marks the one-year mark until George W. Bush leaves office, if all goes as it is supposed to. It's been a long, grueling seven years, and I can only hope that no more major damage is inflicted from this ultimate in lame duck administrations.

I can only imagine that on this day next year, a Democrat will be sworn into office. I seriously cannot envision--refuse to contemplate--the alternative. They'd better not lose this opportunity. If Democrats--and indeed much of America--was depressed after the 2004 election, a Republican win in November would be a psychological disaster.

[Excerpt]

Sunday Late Nite: Countdown

One year from today, presuming the intact survival of the American constitutional republic, we will inaugurate a new president.

Celebrate with me today the countdown to the exauguration of the worst president ever. And his evil warmonger regent, Darth Cheney.

Just think -- one year from today, when we lay our heads down to sleep, we will know the world is no longer at the mercy of this incredible sociopath and his tantrums. . .

Read more at: Fire Dog Lake

Walking and Quacking Like a Lame Duck

Picture from McClatchy Washington Bureau

Not much personal editorializing from me, except to say it's about damned time. Read on.

The president slipped out of town for a long weekend in Maine before the Senate delivered the final blow to his immigration bill, but it wasn't the only setback that might put a damper on his seaside getaway with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In the space of a single short week, Bush was hit with more Republican defections on Iraq, more bad news from the battlefield, more subpoenas from a hostile Congress, a new assault on his signature education plan and embarrassing disclosures about his vice president.

He also found himself in a fight over executive privilege that begs comparisons to Richard Nixon's legal battles during the Watergate scandal. Read more
at: McClatchy Washington Bureau